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Introducing What’s in the Glass

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My name is Shane McCarthy and I have been a wine merchant in the Bangor area for over 10 years. I did not grow up in a house where wine was a regular part of the family dinner, nor was there ever any “good” wine in the house. My parents sometimes kept a bottle of Taylor Pink Catawba in the fridge and it would take them weeks to finish it. My first wine experience was not a good one. My parents offered me a glass of the aforementioned wine on my 16th birthday. It tasted so bad that I did not drink wine again until I was in my mid 20′s. My interest in wine did not really began until I worked as a dining room host in Freeport in 1993. I heard the staff members talking about all these wines that I had never heard of, and it inspired me to learn more about wine. I was a beer guy, still am. I took the dining room host position because I wanted to pursue a restaurant managers job. I needed to learn how restaurants “worked” before I could run one, and wine knowledge would be essential.

In 1995, I landed my first restaurant managers job, and even though it was a “microbrewery” restaurant, I knew that it was important to have a decent wine list. Not everyone drinks beer. Three years later, I left my second “microbrewery” restaurant managers job and decided to focus all my attention on wine. I took a job at a local wine shop where I had been attending wine tastings. I was able to attend my first wine seminar, (tasting for the trade) while working there and came to realize how little I knew about wine. I left that wine shop and went to work in the best (and busiest) wine shop on the coast of Maine. I learned a lot. I opened a restaurant/ wine bar, and my first wine shop in 2000.

I have owned my current wine shop since 2004. I have attended countless wine trade shows and classroom style seminars since that first one back in 1999, I’ve even taught a few of my own. I have learned that Wine is something that you can never know everything about, because it changes every year. That is what fascinates me and why I am in the wine business. I am passionate about good food, good wine and the relationship that they share. I believe that wine is an integral part of the dining experience…and that should be celebrated every day.

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About the Author

Shane McCarthy has been a wine merchant in the Bangor area for more than 10 years and has owned State Street Wine Cellar since 2004. He is passionate about good food, good wine and the relationship that they share.